For a heavily armed mercenary, peacetime doesn’t pay. The barons, princes, kings and queens of the Twelve Nations have no need of warriors to wage wars or settle skirmishes. Journeyman, Robert M. Leonard’s first book in the Brotherhood of Freeswords fantasy series, is a well-told tale of adventure, magic, and treachery, set in a strange world maintaining only some vague elements of ours.
After an unprofitable and uneventful job protecting a caravan of winter supplies as it heads to a backwater and outback mining town, Kileean O’Tamman, Journeyman Third in Rank in Good Standing with the Brotherhood of Freeswords, finds himself marooned in a stinking tavern. Almost out of funds, should he choose to feed his horses, or pay his guild dues? What’s a “sell-sword soul” pledged to the Goddess Anishimira to do?
CLASHING PERSONALITIES AND CHALLENGING LEARNING CURVES
Fate intervenes when the owner of the tavern asks Kileean to escort his daughter, Anatha, “poised between girl and grown,” to a distant city. There she is to live with her aunt for tutoring in the ways of a young lady, earning better marriage prospects than the local louts of her hometown. She’s “inordinately stubborn and vindictive,” warns her father.
The contract signed, sealed, and with a flash of light instantly delivered to Freeswords headquarters, Kileean and his young charge set out on horseback as a winter storm jeopardizes their passage. Anatha proves to be just as headstrong, rebellious, and spunky as her father foreshadowed. Threatened by brigands, bandits and cutthroats, the journey turns perilous, so Kileean decides to teach Anatha martial arts, self-defense and weaponry. An apt and eager student, she even saves his life by healing an infected gash on his leg with the liquid he uses to clean his swords.
She also asks a lot of questions, like how it happened that the goddess of women, hearth and home has since become “the patron to a collection of men dedicated to the spilling of blood and destruction?” In response, Kileean decides to introduce her to the “philosophical concept of moral relativism.”
“What grunter swill,” she exclaims.
AN ADVENTURE BEGINS
Their wide-ranging conversations as they trek through the wilds add details about the Brotherhood and Kileean’s dedication to it. Dealing with twelve warring kingdoms, the Brotherhood of Freeswords pledges “to fight on the side of good and right, to dispense justice as needed, and to avenge what couldn’t be mended.” As Kileean and Anatha grow closer in their struggle for survival, their relationship takes an unexpected turn. Every knight errant needs a fair lady. But an evil enchantment suddenly falls upon them, and Anatha disappears. Witches are afoot, and they want Kileean’s soul.
Journeyman is the first of a series. Book Two, titled The Master and expected next year, will also feature Kileean and Anatha. The heroine will attempt to take over her family’s trading company and venture across the Pentaforian waste to exotic lands with Kileean serving as captain of her guard.
Leonard recently won an honorable mention in L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest for the story, “Siege of Vertalska,” a war story that will become part of Book Three and titled Storm Warning. He is also author of the Alexander Gambit Trilogy, and Hunter: A Thomas Hunter Novel. Leonard’s creation of another world throughout Journeyman will appeal to fans of medieval fantasy, alternate history, and anyone who might want to escape reality for a little while. “It is a true adventure story, but also one of personal and professional growth for all,” promises Leonard as he looks ahead to Book Two.
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About Robert M. Leonard:
Robert M. Leonard is author of the Alexander Gambit Trilogy, the Brotherhood of Freeswords fantasy series, the upcoming Thomas Hunter sci-fi series, and the Alexander Endgame Trilogy (still in development). He earned an honorable mention in the 3rd Quarter 2020 L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest for a short story based in the world of the Brotherhood of Freeswords. Robert’s love of reading began at age four, when he was seldom to be seen without a book in his hands or nearby from then on. As more and more of his favorite authors went to that Great Library in The Sky, he realized that the only way to keep reading the types of works he loved was to write them himself. Along the way, he discovered that he loved writing even more than reading, and is eager and happy to share his work with the rest of the world. It is now his mission to pass on the love of the written word the late greats authors of old gave to him unto future generations.
